Thursday, 27 November 2008

Today was cool. I am very thankful that I have a family that puts up with me. I am the first one to admit that I am not entirely "normal", and may surpass abnormal as well. So thanks Mom, Dad and Lisa!

I headed north to spend the holiday with my family, blood and extended. TJ, Cadence is awesome, even at the age of 2! I imagine you'll have a lot to deal with over the years, and I think you'll do well. Mom, dinner was super fantastic, thank you so much! Now I'm back home, and have been for a few hours now. I had been planning on staying the night up there, but I just felt like coming home. That kinda threw everyone for a loop, but I just felt like it. Now I'm curious about something.

I traveled 93 miles on one eight of a tank of gas. I averaged 73 mph for the duration of the trip. Having done the math, that should mean that if I traveled nonstop, averaging 73 mph, I should get 744 miles on one tank of gas... ... ... Now, considering engine temperature, ambient temperature, random circumstance and traveling alone, I can safely say that I don't get 744 miles out of one tank of gas in my current car. Keep in mind though, that I surpassed that number in my Jetta TDI when I got 798 miles from one tank of diesel (tank capacity of 13 gallons, same size as my current GTI's tank). Something is very wrong with this. As fuel burns at the same rate, regardless of how much is in the tank. And figuring that the weight of the car is decreased upon every gallon of fuel burned. Every fuel saving guide says to remove all the unnecessary weight from your vehicle. One gallon of gas weighs approximately 7 pounds. So a full tank of gas in my car weighs 91 lbs. So when I only have 1 gallon, I should get way better mileage than I do when I have 13 gallons, right? Well I figure that the average weight of useless stuff in any given car (minus people who carry a full set of golf clubs around in the trunk), is only about 9 lbs., just over the weight of one gallon of gasoline. By removing said weight, I'd get an additional 14 miles per tank. Why doesn't that work when there is no unnecessary weight in my car to begin with, but I burn off much more weight than 9 lbs every time I go through a full tank of gas, while not adding any additional weights, or driving any differently?

Ponder that for a while, I'm going to bed now. It was good seeing familiar faces today, and a new one. Love, peace and patience to all, and especially the next generation!

Wednesday, 26 November 2008

Hi there! It's 12:18 am, and I just got home from work a few minutes ago, yay!!! Now I'm trying to settle my brain down so I can get some sleep. As usual, my body cries for my bed, but my brain is running giant figure eight laps, stupid mind! Works went alright today. At job one, I got there a bit early, 7:15 to be precise, okay, it was 7:16, sue me. Both my drivers were on time, and all went mostly swimmingly. Okay, maybe not swimmingly, but well enough in any case. Some people were idiots of course, and some people still don't know how to use the glossary in the back of their catalogs, and then there are the ones who use common sense and compile a list of everything even the part numbers before calling. I like those people.

Then came job two. For some reason (probably just another idiotic way to "save money") on Tuesday's there's only ever two people scheduled to work at night. One manager, and one driver. No back up, no helper, just two. Just two might be fine and dandy for a monogamous relationship, but it's no way to run a business!!! Point in case, all went fairly well, and at 10:30 I decided it would be a good time to start washing dishes, so we could get out of there at a reasonable time. Then, suddenly the phones started ringing, and we got an internet order. Now it's 10:45 and I suddenly have three deliveries. I've barely touched the dishes, the floors still need to be swept and mopped, all the counters washed, garbage disposed of and so on. Noe of the deliveries were local, except one. I knew I wouldn't get back until 11:30 (we close at 11). I knew the one person who was local, so I called her when I was about 2 blocks away, so she could get down to the main door by the time I got there. I arrived, and walked up the steps, and proceeded to stand there for about two minutes. So much for calling ahead. Then some white girl and her mini-miniature dachshund came to the door (the girl that ordered is black, so I was confused). I went to get out of her way so that she could walk the dog half the size of Marley, and she stopped me and said that the pizza was for her. Her total was $20.26. She handed me a fiver first, which I figured was my tip, and then she handed me a coupon for two pizzas for $16.99, and told me to have a good night. ...... ...... ...... ...... I had to explain to her 5 TIMES that the coupon was only stating the price for two pizzas, and wasn't actually worth $16.99. I mean honestly, it says right at the bottom of the coupon that the cash value is only 1/100 of one penny! How daft can you be???!!! After my brain stopped going numb from trying to comprehend how idiotic people can be, I headed to the next delivery. When I finally got back to the store, I found Monica there, YAY! Turns out the other manager called her to come in and make the final delivery for me, and do the rest of the shores. I was ever so grateful, I would have kissed her, but that would be inappropriate so I just thanked her verbally instead. She even gave me the three dollar tip she got for the pizza she took! I really like that girl, she rocks! All said and done though, I made over $50 tonight, so woo whoo! Anyway, I swept the floors and cleaned a couple of counters before I came home. And now here I am!

Now that I've rambled for long enough, I'm going to finish watching an episode of Dr Who, and hopefully get to bed sometime before 2 am, just to get up at 6 am, yay! I am sooo looking forward to some good Thanksgiving food!!! Peace, love and good music to all! Peace out!

P.S. I'm not proof reading his tonight, so if there are any errors, don't kill me please! Okay, later!

Sunday, 23 November 2008

Hi there. I know a lot of people take stuff for granted. Simple things, like grocery shopping, and cable and everyday little things like that. I had almost forgotten what it felt like to have my own money for once. I got to keep my latest paycheck! So I really hadn't had a chance to do anything with it until today, and then I went out. I returned some movies, and rented one too. Then I went to Jewel. I was able to walk through the aisles and not say things like wow, I'm hungry and that looks good, but I can only afford a loaf of bread and some peanut butter, but no jelly. I wasn't hungry when I went to the store either! I bought a bunch of stuff, and knew I had the money, and didn't have to sweat it. The best part though, was when I got home and showed Marley that I had gotten him some fresh food too! He looked so excited, for a cat anyway. And even though he scarfed it down, he kept it down too! Then he came over and curled up next to me and started purring. It may sound silly, but when you can't do things like that for so long, it feels that much better when you can, and there's no guilt hanging over your head for it.

My friend George got back from Italy today, and I just got back from chilling at his house. It was good to see him again, and good to get out of the house for a while too, doing something other than work or errands. He got me a small bevy of stuff while he was over there. I think he has a thing for Ferrari, as he got me another Ferrari hat, and a shirt too this time. He also got me a load of colognes. I haven't worn cologne in so long. But hey, free is free, so that was cool. Even though he knows I am a VW fan...

I'm going to watch some Dr Who now, oh yeah, I got the fourth season on DVD. I wasn't planning on it, but I REALLY wanted to see Voyage of the Damned, and that was the only way I possibly could! Call me crazy, I dare you... After that, I'm going to bed, but I drank a lot of caffeine when I was a George's house, so I'm a little wired right now! I hope you all had a fabulous weekend, and I will talk to some of you soon! Oh Lisa and Mom, I mailed you both something, so you have something to look forward to in the snail mail! Peace out y'all!

Thursday, 20 November 2008

...and I ain't got nobody. I got some money 'cause I just got paid. Oh how I wish I had someone to...talk to, come home to, cook for, laugh with, cry with, travel with...you get the point, I'm in an awful way.

Hey y'all, how be ye? I be me. It's Thursday, I worked both jobs today. I made $37 in tips at my second job! My first job was a headache right off the bat, before I even got to work. I was on my way in when my phone rang. It was one of my drivers. He was calling to let me know that he got stuck by a freight train and he'd be late. Two minutes later, my other driver called, he got stuck by the same train. Go figure. Then I arrived myself, having not been held up by any train. I was just about done unloading one skid of supplies, when I realized that everything I had just unpacked was for another company altogether. Sometimes we get one or two boxes for somebody else on our skid, but today, for the first time I can remember in the last 8 years, we got the wrong skid! At this time, both my other drivers were there, so I sent them to re-packing everything while I went to make some phone calls. When our skid was finally tracked down, we were told that their truck would be re-dispatched to pick it up and deliver it, in 2 hours!!!! So we sent our drivers to go pick it up instead. Then they discovered that the van they took had the steel straps in both front tires exposed. Talk about bald tires! So then that driver got to sit around while we located new tires that could be installed immediately. Once he was on his way, the phones started ringing relentlessly, which would have been a good thing, if they were all orders, but most of them were just stupid people playing the role of stupid people. But I survived! Tomorrow and next week one of my bosses is on vacation, AGAIN, so I get to work late, hooray.

I............................can't seem to think of anything else to write right now.

I guess that means I should stop blogging/bitching, and watch whatever I missed on TV last night before going to bed. Love to all who deserve it, and even for some who might not :)

Monday, 17 November 2008

It's been an alright day. Granted I'm in between job shifts right now, but so far so good. It was just busy enough to make time fly at job 1, but not crazy busy giving me a headache! I called my favorite lunch place, and they actually had broccoli cheese soup today!!! I like broccoli cheese soup a lot. When I went to get gas during my lunch run, I got fuel for only $2.21 (premium grade), got almost eleven gallons for $21.34, it was amazing! Then I noticed that somehow my passenger side mirror had been knocked inwards, but, upon closer inspection I'm wearing loafers...I mean there was no damage or scratch, so yay again. Then I got my lunch and headed back to the office. The soup was good! When I got home from work there was another box from my bank in my mailbox. I thought this was strange as I have already received my new checks. What it turned out to be though was a box of deposit slip only books. I had requested those, but any time in the past that I've asked, I was always told that that wasn't possible. It is possible now, YAY! To top all of that, my underwear was sitting on the bench just inside the main door. SUPER YAY!!! For all of you scratching your heads, I'll just say that the was a laundry conspiracy this weekend. My boxers are safe and sound, and back in my possession! Now I'm going to watch Cops and then shave off my creepy mustache before going to work again. Hopefully it will be a lucrative night to follow up the pattern of good things on this Monday!

Thursday, 13 November 2008

Another Thursday night slinging pizzas, and yet again 2 out of 5 people failed to comprehend the concept of tipping the person (me) who drove their food to their houses in the rain and dark so that they didn't have to bother! Oh well, the other 3 deliveries were to people that know how it works. One guy only had singles, for a $27 order. He apologized, and explained that he was paying me with the tips he made at some bar earlier today, and he gave me a $6 tip (in singles, ha ha). That's how it's supposed to work people! The delivery charge you pay doesn't all make it to my pocket. The portion we get kinda sorta almost pays for some of the gas we use to bring you food! So there!

Okay, I feel a bit better now.

I like the new Carmax commercials. I just saw the most recent one, the one when the last part is the guy getting into some domestic car, and it tells him to "get out", "no seriously, get out" in a demonic voice (I should have been the one to voice that car damnit!!) I still get told by all the new people I see in Mundelien, that I should do voice work. Which is slightly better than saying "wow, you have a deep voice". I do? Really? I can't hear myself speak, so I never knew!

Oh, TJ, about your comment on Lisa's recent blog, and the security spelling, deterz. I was once ticketed by a cop that was trying to belittle me, and telling me that I was to stupid to have graduated from high school. It's a long story, but he kept calling me stupid, yet he misspelled disperse when he wrote the ticket for failure to "dispese" As pissed as I was, and seem to be becoming again, I still had to laugh at that one. Even though I had to walk home because while he had me cuffed and in the back of his car, he had another cop run over my skateboard when he was pulling away. On the plus side, the cop who had arrested me got kicked off the Prospect Heights PD, transferred to the Palatine PD, and then to the Arlington Heights PD before he finally had his badge revoked altogether, for harassment complaints no less. Silver lining anyone?

On that note, I'm going to catch up on some missed TV before I go to bed. I hope y'all have a great day tomorrow! Peace, Love, Good Music and Good Meals to all!

Tuesday, 11 November 2008

Alright, so it wasn't voted "best" city. But some survey thinks that the northwestern Chicago suburb Mount Prospect is the best place to raise a family. I was slightly flabbergasted to hear this on WGN radio just after eating lunch today. How did this happen? I'm not trying to bash Mt Prospect, I mean I grew up there and all. The newer downtown area has been "upgraded" since then. The Library is nicer after that got renovated (they still don't have nearly as many chairs as they used to though), in a good way. I miss that library from the 80's and 90's, when they had reading and study areas, that were well planned out and comfortable. Then they eventually accumulated so many books that they put in more shelves and removed said reading areas. That was a sad day indeed. However, best town to raise a family? It should be said that there are many schools, even the dreaded Middle School phenomenon. But there wasn't any other town somewhere else in this massive country that could out rank Mt Prospect? I'll admit however, I feel kinda proud about this. Not that I've lived there is a few years, but come on, it was my home town for the majority of my life to date. Maybe I should take a drive back there and check out what it's all about these days.

Saturday, 8 November 2008

Unbelievable!!! I got home from work at 9:45 p.m.. I turned on the boob tube, tuned it to WTTW Chicago Channel 11. The picture was clear, no scrambling, no blips, no audio goofs, just solid streaming imagery. Then 10 p.m. rolled around, and Doctor Who came on. Then the reception went to crap!!! This is so bloody annoying!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! The one good show on on a Saturday night, and I can't even watch it without transmission interruptions!!! AAARRRGGGG!!!!!!!!!!!! I need to get cable back, pronto! However they always run your credit record, and I fear that I'll be denied for cable, even if I can afford it again. Damn, damn...double damn!

P.S. How odd, I just ran spell check, it didn't like my spelling of AAARRRGGGG, and the suggestion for it was "crackerjack" ???

Friday, 7 November 2008

It's Friday!!! Oh, wait, I have not a lot to get excited about. I got to sleep til noon again, because I was up until almost 3 playing one round of Civilization last night. Then I shuffled around a bit, and then waited until I had to go to work tonight. Work kinda sucked. Nobody was in a tipping mood. Well I shouldn't say nobody, the last delivery made up for the first 4 (who didn't tip me at all, those bastards), because the guy handed me two twenties, for a $29 order and said "It's all yours", so of course I thanked him with a big smile. Then I got sent home an hour early, again. I know they want to "save money", but two hours at my pay rate is only $9.30, so I don't think they're rolling in the big dough by doing that!

Now I'm sitting at home blogging, obviously, and wishing there was somebody I could call to hang out with. But there isn't. My neighbor still isn't talking to me, however she was going out to her car yesterday afternoon, and turned around to look at my window. Baby steps, maybe? Whatever. Brent is at home, but he lives bloody far, and I don't want to drive out there now, just to drive home a hour later. George is in Spain again for the rest of the month, so that's out. Monica said I could hang out with her boyfriend at a local bar, but for some odd reason, I'm not quite down with that suggestion. And that's really all my options, or non-options if you will. And Marley is being his cranky self tonight, so boo :( I guess I'll just surf the web for a bit, maybe see if there's anything on TV (yeah right, like there ever is on a Friday night), and possibly play a little Final Fantasy VII. I have a habit of playing that game every time I move someplace new. I've been in this apartment for a few months now, but I hadn't started playing it until a couple days ago. Maybe that's because when I moved I only moved down the hall, and not to a new building all together.

I hope you all have a good night! Love to those who deserve it, and patience to all that need it! Peace out y'all! On a side note, I didn't mistype anything in this blog! Yay me!!!

Thursday, 6 November 2008

So I haven't blogged in a couple days, oh well. I had a fairly lazy birthday, so that was nice. Nobody from worked called to wish me a happy one, shocking. I've been trying to just laze around and get rid of this stupid cold. I hate being sick! Of course the cough will linger for a while as I'm a smoker and that never helps. But I am feeling mostly better at any rate. I did have to work last night, but only for a couple of hours, so it wasn't too bad, and the tips were alright too, yay! I kinda wish I had this week off at Dominos too, as it doesn't feel like much of a vacation when I have to sit around waiting to go to um, work... Alas, I still gotta do what I gotta do. I am thinking of seeing if a local place, Emil's, is hiring any drivers. At least there I wouldn't have to use a car topper, I think I'd get paid more hourly, and I could wear my own clothes!!!

I bought a pack of AA batteries, Duracell of course. It had a little thing inside to enter to win a Nintendo Wii. I figured "hey, why not?" So I entered the code. Now Duracell won't stop sending me emails, asking if I have any more codes to enter. How many batteries do they think the average consumer goes through daily? Maybe I don't use enough of them? Silly me! The two high output hand held devices that use a lot of juice are my phone, which Duracell doesn't make a battery for, and my PS3 controller which is charged by my PS3, so no battery needed there. I have a lot of remote controls, 8 to be precise, but those batteries all seem to last a REALLY long time, so sorry Duracell, I don't have any more codes to enter!!!

Speaking of gaming, I got a version of Civilization for the PS3, and I tried it for the first time ever yesterday. I've seen various editions played on other peoples computers for years, but I was a Civ Virgin until last night. I whooped ass at it! Okay, so I played the easiest level, but hey, I still felt good about it. I guess I have Brent to thank for that one. All those hours sitting there watching him play all the predecessor versions. It's possible I picked up a trick or two from him. Thanks a lot Brent. To think all those hours were wasted ones, hee hee.

As this post's title suggests, it's a rainy day today. I so just want to watch movies and play games all day. However, I have to go to work in a few hours, so I think I'll get in one round of Civilization Revolution before I go. I hope you're all having a great day!

Monday, 3 November 2008

Hello again! I was up in Wisconsin this weekend spending time with my family, in recognition of my birthday. Unfortunately this year my birthday is on election day. Anyone who really knows me, knows that I'm really not happy about that. Oh well. I had a good weekend! it was nice to see my parents for the first time in a while, as well as my sister on Sunday, and TJ, it was good to see you too. We all had dinner together last night, and fun was had by all! I did however feel the little tickle in the back of my throat all weekend, of an oncoming cold. Late last night it hit in full furvor, and today hasn't been much better. My nose is currently being employed as a sneezing factory, and my lungs don't feel much better. However, I took a different route home today, and it was AWESOME! I am so glad I didn't take 41 South for more than a couple of miles! I saw some beautiful sights, some towns I'd heard of, but never seen before, and was over all taken by the awesomeness of the drive! I had my camera on the seat next to me, but I was so wrapped up in the wonder that was the winding roads through rolling hills set alight in amazing shades of reds and yellows and even a dash of green still hanging on. It made my cold seem petty, at least for a little while anyway! When i finally did get home, and unpacked my car, I called work to see if somebody else could cover for me tonight. Usually on Monday nights, when I close the store with Monica, it's just the two of us. Well I'm certainly not handling any food tonight. I was told that I would get a call if they could find somebody to cover, but it's now 3:30, and my phone hasn't started ringing yet. So I suppose I'll take a shower, not that it'll make me feel better, just smell a little better, and then get ready for work, boo!

Thanks to family and friends for a great weekend! Love to you all! I hope you all had a fantastic day today! Until next time, peace out y'all!!!